Fred Heutte on Sat, 22 Jun 2002 18:30:06 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> re: Bruce Sterling interview |
Thanks to Bruce and Kristian for the fine interview. I sent this to Bruce privately and then decided it might be interesting to pass along to the entire list. ------ mail forwarded, original message follows ------ To: bruces@well.com From: phred@sunlightdata.com <Fred Heutte> Subject: nettime: trees growing on dead skyscrapers in Detroit Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 21:17:27 -0700 I have pictures of that. Detroit has actually been my favored destination resort of the last decade. Detroit techno, certainly one of the most vibrant and affirming cultural artifacts to come along in the last quarter century, was born in those ashes. Here's where I stay in Detroit, the Best Western at the foot of Washington Boulevard where it meets Michigan Ave. Doesn't look like much, huh? (It's called the Ambassador now, good place, well run and the view up Washington from room 1012 is a compelling reason to go to Detroit.) http://downtownmotown.8k.com/Washington29.jpg The pictures here really don't do it justice. Across the street from the BW is the Book Cadillac, where I stayed in 1983 when the city was running it as a last-gasp effort to keep this famed 1924-era hotel alive. In its prime it was one of the most famous hotels in the world and hosted presidents, kings and CEOs who figured out how to destroy the nest that grew their industrial fortunes, leaving behind the world's only 40-storey ghost town -- downtown Detroit. http://www.nedjones.com/detroit.html Running along Washington is the decrepit tourist trolley built for some unknown bicentennial reason in 1976. It runs more or less once an hour from the trolley barn up near Grand Circus down to Hart Plaza where the Detroit electronic music, jazz and "hoedown" festivals are held every year. You can get a glimpse in these pictures of the marvelous light sculpture running five blocks up Washington. Nobody can tell me anything about why it's there or why, mysteriously, the cluster of light globes in the center (programmed by some unknown genius to flash in some kind of Game of Life sequence) actually works, unlike almost anything else in Detroit. It's a parklike setting that is almost entirely deserted except for the parishioners of the Catholic church halfway up Washington, a few office workers and the residents of the one or two modern/ugly apartment buildings that are still open. http://downtownmotown.8k.com/Washington%20Boulevard2.htm The Book building at the other end of Washington is open again, and has the future of Detroit locked up: it's the first telecom hotel downtown with an OC48, backup power and fire suppression just like all those fancy Silicon Valley colos. http://detroityes.com/downtown/bookcad.htm At the far end of Washington is Grand Circus, shown in this shot from the indispensable Fabulous Ruins of Detroit site: http://detroityes.com/downtown/stadtler.htm The BW is also a block down Michigan Ave from Lafayette Coney Island, the culinary capital of Detroit, where Fred "Sonic" Smith and Patti Smith first met in 1976 and the biggest celebrity photo on the wall is Soupy Sales. http://www.planetsoma.com/routesoma/tour98/journal6.html The utter contradictions of 20th century American capitalism are entirely present at this location. So it's a favorite destination of mine. Someday people will realize that architecture and street life are more important than cars. They coexisted uneasily in Detroit for its glorious era from 1920 to 1965, and then the cars won. Or did they? phred PS I guess I shouldn't be cynical or anything but 9/11 wasn't hardly the first time someone demolished a building before its time (although it is tacky, grotesque and anti-human all at once to do it while the people are still inside). What's interesting is that the Hudson's demolition in 1998 was the exception rather than the rule in Detroit. I don't know whether the Book Cadillac will last as long as the pyramids, but it seems likely to outlast the American property title record system that defines its current frozen-in-decay status. http://www.planetsoma.com/routesoma/tour98/journal5.html # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net